It was finally Christmas! Yaaaaaay! Maddie had jumped out of bed first thing that morning, ready for a fun-filled day. She'd attempted to rein in her enthusiasm a little though, as she'd slept in Elle's room and she hadn't wanted to disrupt the older girl's sleep. Nevertheless, there was still a large part of the excitable witch that had wanted to wake up the Sasseville - and the rest of the household - that very second, so that she could celebrate with them all and continue the Christmas traditions and festivities that they'd started the night before. Maddie had managed to slip out of Keichelle's room without rousing her though, which she was quite proud of.
The blonde-haired girl had then lightly skipped all the way to the living room to, once again, admire the big, beautiful Christmas tree that was the current focal point of the room. Her family's was just as big, but she liked how the Sasseville's had decorated theirs a lot better. It was more colourful and sparkly. She'd spent a few minutes scrutinizing the presents in her shoes that Père Noël had left for her too. That had always been one of Maddie's favourite Christmas traditions. She liked getting to place a pair of her shoes by the fireplace on Christmas Eve, knowing there would be little presents in them the next morning. And it had been even more enjoyable that year, getting to do it with more people than normal. She wished her own family was bigger. It always seemed so much more fun, doing things with lots and lots of people.
The young witch's next stop had been the kitchen, where she'd surveyed the remnants of la réveillon. There had still been quite a bit of food left from their feast at that point, and though she'd been tempted to eat more of it (particularly a slice or two of la bûche de Noël) before anyone else in the house had gotten up, she'd known it would have been rude of her to do so. It would have also ruined her appetite for the yummy breakfast she'd had soon after that. Maddie had still decided to sneak a piece of the pretty cake into Sabrina's room though, hoping her best friend would be able to eat it at some point during the day. She'd been too sick to partake of any of la réveillon the night before, which made the Papillonlisse quite sad to think about. She'd quietly peeked into the brunette's room, and after making sure she was fast asleep, Maddie had tiptoed over to the sickly witch's bed and set the slice of la bûche de Noël on her bedside table. She'd hoped it would cheer the ballerina up quite a bit, to see it there when she woke up. After quickly kissing Sabbie's forehead and whispering "Merry Christmas Sabs!" in her ear, she'd tiptoed out again, and waited in the living room for everyone else to wake up, feeling a weird mix of happy and sad at the same time.
The tall blonde had had a rather tough start to her fifth year at Beauxbatons, all things considered. Along with the missing house elves and mysterious tunnel under the school, Sabrina had ended up having yet another bout of her sickness, and this one had been a doozy. Her dear friend had gotten to the point where she was so sick that she'd collapsed during one of her frequent ballet practises. Luckily both Elle and Maddie were there watching her and were able to immediately take her to the Hospital Wing. She'd stayed there for the remainder of the term though, and the 15-year-old had quickly fallen back into the routine she'd always followed when Sabbie was ill and bedridden. That basically just meant she was almost always at the Sasseville's side, only leaving her to eat, sleep, and attend her classes. And now the brunette's eldest brother, Antoine, had her on bed rest during the Christmas holidays too, so Maddie had been doing her best to keep her and her family's spirits up. Christmas was supposed to be a happy time, after all!
By late morning, the anxious witch had gotten rather antsy. She was eager to open her presents, of course, but she also wanted to properly see and speak with her best friend. They'd never gotten to spend the entire holiday together before, and the blonde-haired girl wanted to experience as much as she possibly could with Sabrina. Thankfully, Sabbie's parents had decided to open presents in her room, so at least she'd be able to spend that time with the sickly witch. At the bidding of Simon and Sophie, everyone grabbed the gifts they were giving and gathered around the ballerina's door. Someone knocked, which Maddie found a bit strange, having never felt the need to do that before herself, and after Sabrina had uttered some sort of assent (though it sounded more like a muffled cough to the young witch), they all filed into her spacious bedroom.
Maddie was happy to see her dear friend awake, though she still looked quite tired and ill. Hopefully opening presents would perk her up a bit more. The Papillonlisse uttered an enthusiastic "Merry Christmas Sabbie!" in response to her best friend's greeting, restraining herself from jumping on Sabrina to give her a great, big hug, worried she'd hurt her or make her feel even worse than she already did. She instead plopped the brunette's gift in her lap, wiggling happily as she did so. "I'll open yours after you open mine. I hope you like it." Maddie smiled somewhat tentatively, perching on the edge of Sabbie's bed so she could watch her open her gift.
